US says ‘alarmed’ by Pakistani court’s order to move Omar Sheikh out of prison

ISLAMABAD: The United States said on Wednesday it was “alarmed” by a Supreme Court order that British-born Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheikh, originally arrested and charged with American journalist Daniel Pearl’s 2002 abduction and murder, be moved from his death cell to a state rest house.
The court gave the order on Tuesday while hearing an appeal filed by the provincial government of Sindh calling for a review of the top court’s decision last week, January 28, to free Sheikh and three others convicted of beheading Pearl, a 38-year-old Wall Street Journal journalist.
Last April, a lower court acquitted all four men in a shocking turn in the 18-year-old case, but they remained detained while the order was appealed separately in the Supreme Court by Pearl’s family and the Sindh government.
Both appeals were rejected last Thursday by a three-judge bench that also ordered Sheikh be released. The decision was two-to-one.
Speaking to journalists in Washington, today, a spokesperson for the US state department was quoted by Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper as saying: “The United States remains deeply concerned by developments in the cases of those involved in Pearl’s kidnapping and murder.”
“We are alarmed by the recent order to move Sheikh and his co-conspirators from prison.”
“The SC ordered that all detainees in the case should be brought to a common barrack of jail for two days,” Pakistan’s Business Recorder newspaper said about the Supreme Court’s Tuesday ruling. “After it, they should be kept at a government rest house.”
“Sheikh’s family may also stay with him from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm,” the court said, adding that he would not be allowed mobile or Internet facilities.
The court’s decisions “represent an affront to terrorism victims everywhere, including in Pakistan,” the US state department spokesperson said, while also appreciating Islamabad’s efforts to ensure that those involved in the slaying were held accountable for their actions, Dawn reported.
“The US recognizes past Pakistani actions to hold Sheikh accountable and to seek to ensure that he and his co-conspirators remain in custody,” the official said. “We also acknowledge government requests for a review of the split Jan 28 decision.”
On Monday, the court had halted the release of Sheikh and others for 24 hours after they were expected to be freed on Tuesday.
To a question about whether it was possible that Sheikh could be released, attorney general Khalid Javed Khan told Arab News last week: “I doubt it.”
Sheikh’s father, Ahmad Saeed Sheikh, attended Tuesday’s hearing.
“It is not a complete freedom. It is a step toward freedom,” he told Reuters Television.